CHAPTER XXVIII. Of Hasty Judgments.

JUDGE not, and ye shall not be judged,” said the Saviour of our souls; “condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:”
134134 S. Luke vi. 37.
and the Apostle S. Paul, “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things
of darkness, 235 and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.”
1351351 Cor. iv. 5.
Of a truth, hasty judgments are most displeasing to God, and men’s judgments are hasty, because we are not judges one of another,
and by judging we usurp our Lord’s own office. Man’s judgment is hasty, because the chief malice of sin lies in the intention
and counsel of the heart, which is shrouded in darkness to us. Moreover, man’s judgments are hasty, because each one has enough
to do in judging himself, without undertaking to judge his neighbour. If we would not be judged, it
behoves us alike not to judge others, and to judge ourselves. Our Lord forbids the one, His Apostle enjoins the other, saying,
“If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”
1361361 Cor. xi. 31.
But alas! for the most part we precisely reverse these precepts, judging our neighbour, which is forbidden on all sides, while
rarely judging ourselves, as we are told to do.

We must proceed to rectify rash judgments, according to their cause. Some hearts there are so bitter and harsh by nature,
that everything turns bitter under their touch; men who, in the Prophet’s words, “turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off
righteousness in the earth.”
137137Amos v. 7.
Such as these greatly need to be dealt with by some wise spiritual physician, for this bitterness being 236 natural to them, it is hard to conquer; and although it be rather an imperfection than a sin, still it is very dangerous,
because it gives rise to and fosters rash judgments and slander within the heart. Others there are who are guilty of rash
judgments less out of a bitter spirit than from pride, supposing to exalt their own credit by disparaging that of others.
These
are self-sufficient, presumptuous people, who stand so high in their own conceit that they despise all else as mean and worthless.
It was the foolish Pharisee who said, “I am not as other men are.”
138138 S. Luke xviii. 11.
Others, again, have not quite such overt pride, but rather a lurking little satisfaction in beholding what is wrong in others,
in order to appreciate more fully what they believe to be their own superiority. This satisfaction is so well concealed, so
nearly imperceptible, that it requires a clear sight to discover it, and those who experience it need that it be pointed out
to them. Some there are who seek to excuse and justify themselves to their own conscience, by assuming readily
that others are guilty of the same faults, or as great ones, vainly imagining that the sin becomes less culpable when shared
by many. Others, again, give way to rash judgments merely because they take pleasure in a philosophic analysis and dissection
of their 237 neighbours’ characters; and if by ill luck they chance now and then to be right, their presumption and love of criticism
strengthens almost incurably.

Then there are people whose judgment is solely formed by inclination; who always think well of those they like, and ill of
those they dislike. To this, however, there is one rare exception, which nevertheless we do sometimes meet, when an excessive
love provokes a false judgment concerning its object; the hideous result of a diseased, faulty, restless affection, which
is in fact jealousy; an evil passion capable, as everybody knows, of condemning others of perfidy and
adultery upon the most trivial and fanciful ground. In like manner, fear, ambition, and other moral infirmities often tend
largely to produce suspicion and rash judgments.

What remedy can we apply? They who drink the juice of the Ethiopian herb Ophiusa imagine that they see serpents and horrors everywhere; and those who drink deep of pride, envy, ambition, hatred, will see
harm and shame in every one they look upon. The first can only be cured by drinking palm wine, and so I say of these latter,—Drink
freely of the sacred wine of love, and it will cure you of the evil tempers which lead you to these perverse judgments. So
far from
seeking out that which 238 is evil, Love dreads meeting with it, and when such meeting is unavoidable, she shuts her eyes at the first symptom, and
then in her holy simplicity she questions whether it were not merely a fantastic shadow which crossed her path rather than
sin itself. Or if Love is forced to recognise the fact, she turns aside hastily, and strives to forget what she has seen.
Of a truth, Love is the great healer of all ills, and of this above the rest. Everything looks
yellow to a man that has the jaundice; and it is said that the only cure is through the soles of the feet. Most assuredly
the sin of rash judgments is a spiritual jaundice, which makes everything look amiss to those who have it; and he who would
be cured of this malady must not be content with applying remedies to his eyes or his intellect, he must attack it through
the affections, which are as the soul’s feet. If your affections are warm and tender, your judgment will not be harsh; if
they are
loving, your judgment will be the same. Holy Scripture offers us three striking illustrations. Isaac, when in the Land of
Gerar, gave out that Rebecca was his sister, but when Abimelech saw their familiarity, he at once concluded that she was his
wife.
139139Gen. xxvi.
A malicious mind would rather have supposed that there was some unlawful connection between them, but 239 Abimelech took the most charitable view of the case that was possible. And so ought we always to judge our neighbour as charitably
as may be; and if his actions are many-sided, we should accept the best. Again, when S. Joseph found that the Blessed Virgin
was with child,
140140 S. Matt. i.
knowing her to be pure and holy, he could not believe that there was any sin in her, and he left all judgment to God, although
there was strong presumptive evidence on which to condemn her. And the Holy Spirit speaks of S. Joseph as “a just man.” When
a just man cannot see any excuse for what is done by a person in whose general worth he believes, he still refrains from judging
him, and leaves all to God’s Judgment. Again, our Crucified Saviour, while He could not wholly ignore the
sin of those who Crucified Him, yet made what excuse He might for them, pleading their ignorance.
141141 S. Luke xxiii. 34.
And so when we cannot find any excuse for sin, let us at least claim what compassion we may for it, and impute it to the least
damaging motives we can find, as ignorance or infirmity.

Are we never, then, to judge our neighbour? you ask. Never, my child. It is God Who judges criminals brought before a court
of law. He uses magistrates to convey His sentence to us; they are His interpreters, and have only to 240 proclaim His law. If they go beyond this, and are led by their own passions, then they do themselves judge, and for so doing
they will be judged. It is forbidden to all men alike, as men, to judge one another.

We do not necessarily judge because we see or are conscious of something wrong. Rash judgment always presupposes something
that is not clear, in spite of which we condemn another. It is not wrong to have doubts concerning a neighbour, but we ought
to be very watchful lest even our doubts or suspicions be rash and hasty. A malicious person seeing Jacob kiss Rachel at the
well-side,
142142Gen. xxix. 11.
or Rebecca accepting jewels from Eleazer,
143143Gen. xxiv. 22.
a stranger, might have suspected them of levity, though falsely and unreasonably. If an action is in itself indifferent, it
is a rash suspicion to imagine that it means evil, unless there is strong circumstantial evidence to prove such to be the
case. And it is a rash judgment when we draw condemnatory inferences from an action which may be blameless.

Those who keep careful watch over their conscience are not often liable to form rash judgments, for just as when the clouds
lower the bees make for the shelter of their hive, so really good people shrink back into themselves, and 241 refuse to be mixed up with the clouds and fogs of their neighbour’s questionable doings, and rather than meddle with others,
they consecrate their energies on their own improvement and good resolutions.

No surer sign of an unprofitable life than when people give way to censoriousness and inquisitiveness into the lives of other
men. Of course exception must be made as to those who are responsible for others, whether in family or public life;—to all
such it becomes a matter of conscience to watch over the conduct of their fellows. Let them fulfil their duty lovingly, and
let them also give heed to restrain themselves within the bounds of that duty.